Jinyoung parked in a shady alley. The area around was scattered with shattered liquor bottles, heroine needles, and cigarette buds. It reeked of the scent of addiction, sorrow, and lonely nights. A light at the end of the alley flickered on and off radically. The younger was obviously uneasy about getting out of the car, but he gestured him to come out with a big grin plastered on his face. There was a metal door left slightly propped open; it was located at the end of the alley to the right. Yugyeom grasped the elders hand, lacing their figures together and out of utter fear his eyes scoped around.

"Yugyeom you shouldn't hold-" the elder stopped mid-sentence when he looked to see the lanky male was practically quaking. He gave the youngers hand a firm squeeze and his shaking faded to small quivers.

"I'm sorry." He said as he tried to pry his hand free, but Jinyoung just kept his hand interlocked with his and gave a lopsided smile as he walked through the door.

Once they were at the door he pried it opened with a good tug and gestured the younger to go in first. The boy's leg wobbled a little as he entered the dark corridor and Jinyoung shut the door behind them. It locked and the click sound echoed down the halls, the elder took lead, locking there hands back together to keep track of the anxious kid, but still giving no real explanation to where they were.

"Bang Chan you better come out! parents said you were in town!" He called out and he heard a low laugh down the hall.

"I thought your side of the family disowned me; called me 'crazy'." He wore a mischevious leer as they walked into a small square shaped room. The ceiling was high, but the room itself was quite tiny. He sat at a table right in the center of the room and there were two empty seats set out for the two. He was mostly blonde with stray strangles of brown that you could see a bit at the roots. He had a firm jawline, high cheek bones, with luscious brown eyes. "I know what your here for young cousin, fear not, for I have an answer." He placed a small crystal ball out from underneath the table.

"This is why my side of the family thinks your crazy." Jinyoung stared at his lap and awkwardly met his gaze; Bang Chan was never a bad person, yet his family never saw that part of him.

"Hey, everyone has their own hobbies and this is mine." He took out a blade and slammed it on the table and Yugyeom jumped out of his seat. "Wow! Calm down you're not going to do anything crazy, unless we have to."

While his cousin prepared whatever ritual, he was about to perform Jinyoung took a long minute to explain himself. His cousin Bang Chan practiced different forms of divination and fortune telling; the younger tilted his head as he explained this so he slowed down. He portrayed it as learning to communicate to other worldly spirits and beings to get answers about something or someone. He have a slow nod and his relative brought the knife back into his pocket.

"You'll be happy to know we won't be needing this to find the answers you seek." Infront of Jinyoung was paper, pen, and a blinfold all sprawled out on his side of the table.

Bang Chan didn't bore them with the lengthy details on what was about to happen. He called what he was about to lead Jinyoung through as -automatic writing - which is the process of letting spirits communicate with you in the form of writing. The boy had a blissful beam on his face as he urged him to put the blindfold on. The boy's hands quivered as he handed him the pen; He couldn't find where it was on the table due to the blindfold being on, so his assist was none other than the nervous intern beside him. The intern led Jinyoung's left hand to the start of the paper that was centered on him. The elder felt this shockwave run through his body at the small physical contact but he quickly threw the thought to the back of his mind.

"I need you to clear your mind of everyrhing, keep your eyes closed and let the spirits guide your hand." He watched as his relative struggled a little against it. His forehead was shiny due to the sweat gathering at the top of his head.

"Will he be okay." The younger piped up and Bang Chan gave a nod while putting a finger over his lips and pointed at Jinyoung.

Jinyoung felt he couldn't move, speak, or think. It was all justthis darkness. It wasn't cold where he stood, it warm, and almost welcoming. He saw a figure appear before him a familiar one. One that he coul never forget even if he tried to. He stood in this ghostly state of being in the darkness and their voices seem to bounce around the empty void reverberating around.

"Jaebum, you're real?" He asked and the figure shook his head.

"I am a fragment or your soul now and I'm trying to communicate to you, but I don't have much time." His figure was beginning to vanish.

"Wait, I have so many questions you can't already be leaving!" He screamed.

"Keep the one you want close, but don't let your judgement get fogged up." He said to him before he faded away completely.

"Wait! What do you mean?" He screamed into the emptiness and dropped to his knees, his legs too shaky, and his feet to weak to keep him upright. His shoulders and arms tense with a sudden urge to hit something. He pounded his fist against the pitch-black floor. He didn't understand what Jaebum was referring to.

He didn't even fully know where he was. He was not in reality, but also not in a make-believe land. It felt to real and then in a snap of a figure he was back again.

"Jinyoung, are you there?" He heard a faint voice and he felt his body being tugged back and forth. His brain was throbbing, fingers numb, and body heavy as a brick.

He assured he was okay with a quiet voice. A new-found pain surged through his body as the two boys pulled him up out of his seat. The room spun in circles to the foreign boy and he would say it was jet lag, but he got off the plane about a month ago. Yugyeom grabbed the paper and handed it to the dizzy elder, but his hands trembled as he held it in his hands.

"Take it easy man, the paper isn’t going anywhere." His cousin assured as he smiled him. The room stopped spinning and he was finally able to look down at the paper without feeling like he was going to fall down a hole.

His eyes begin to focus in on the writing; the black ink was blotchy as if he had no care for penmanship whilst being taken over.

."Jinyoung, what does it say?" The boy's voice made the elder jumped a little, but he sat back down once he was aware of what was going on. He couldn't read the chicken scratch.

"Nothing, thank you Chan we'll be leaving." He waved his cousin goodbye grabbing and pulling him along.

Yugyeom pulled his wrist away from his grasp and his lips were creased tightly. He parted his lips, but then closed them. He shook his head to the elder’s amusement and finally he spoke.

“What does the letter say?” He stared him down and the raven-haired boy simply shook his head. He thought the boy was all quiet stares and wordless actions, yet here he is standing tall wanting a clear answer.

“It’s for me to know.” He stated walking towards the car, but this time he got grabbed by the younger. His grip strength almost ten times better than the elder’s and for a moment he was shocked by his hold. He had never thought the boy had it in him.

“I deserve to know just as much as you, I’m the reason you came here for answers.” His jaw was clenched and his grip around his wrist didn’t falter at all. He kept his eyes focused on him pleading for an answer.

“Yugyeom, can you just let it go please?” Jinyoung winced a little as his grip got tighter and once he heard that the boy let go, eyes darting around in guilt. He pulled the elders wrist up and looked at the reddish circle forming and quickly seemed to tear up.

“I didn’t mean to…I’m sorry” The elder instinctively, as if second nature, pulled the boy into his embrace and cooed and quieted the boy. He rubbed his back in soothing circular motions and felt the boy shaking against him.

In that moment his heart fluttered as the younger put his hands around his waist, closing the distance, and now he could feel all the warmth radiating from the tall lamp post of a boy. It was almost intoxicating the vanilla like smell wafting around the boy and he dug his nose against the boys chest; He wanted to keep himself there forever, but he snapped back to reality when his phone vibrated in his pocket. He gave a lopsided smile as the boy untangled himself from the shorter male.

“We should get going.” The lamp post boy kept his gaze moving from place to place avoiding the elder’s own glare entirely.

The drive was silent, but comfortable, and Yugyeom had lived in the same apartment complex, so they went their separate ways once hopping out of the car. Jinyoung chucked the letter onto the nightstand in his room trying to avoid the note at all cost. He was too scared to decipher it to find an answer he wasn't ready to face, but at the same time wasn't that the point? To get answers to all his questions floating like clouds in his head. He noticed Felix concerned gaze and sent a gleam his direction.

"You won't fake me out, what's on your mind?" He took a seat across from him and his fingers drummed against the small dining table in the middle of their decently sized apartment.

"It's feels like I've been living my whole life in the shadows of who I use to be." He shook his head in disbelief, scoffing at his own statement, and getting up to crash on the velvet couch they got. His head snuggled against the plush pillow, soft, and fluffy.

"Who you use to be and who you are now are different, so why make the same choice as your past self if you're no longer that person?" Felix shrugged and yawned. He sat there for a moment until he finally decided to head off to his room leaving the other to ponder about everything that happened today.

Jinyoung begun to fall into a relaxed routine at his work. He had biweekly meetings with his associate's and a staff briefing once a month. Every other day in-between was, calls, paperwork, and filing. He received a cup of cafe au lait every morning, a nervous Yugyeom dashing from the room on days the elder came early enough to office to catch him in his office. It was becoming the norm for the two to exchange silent gazes and small smiles, as if the whole world stopped for their interactions.

After the whole hug ordeal, he would ask Amber and Baekhyun about the younger whenever he could. He was just interested in the kid you know? Not romantically, never that, so no harm in asking about another potential employee, right? At least that’s the sorry excuse he gave anytime the two asked why he wanted to know. He learned that the lamp post likes things neat and orderly, he is normally the one fixing his father’s spread sheets, and graphing the trends he sees in the collect data each meeting. He also tends to have things color coded and alphabetized, but the most interesting is his favorite hobby is singing. He hasn’t heard him, yet Baekhyun said he sounds like an angel and for some unknown reason he believes it.

"Jinyoung big news!" Baekhyun and Amber came strutting into his office. The door smacked against the wall and Jinyoung was so engrossed in his work the sound of the collision made him jump from his chair.

"What the hell is all this commotion about?" He got back in his chair and Amber slammed a piece of paper beside his laptop.

"Quarterly Board meeting coming up in two weeks you better be prepping cutie." Baekhyun sent him a wink and Amber pinched his nose and pulled him down.

"Wait my private cell number is 253-789-" Amber shoved the door closed leaving a borderline dead Jinyoung to keep working.

Jinyoung checked out early wanting to just take a break from work and life in general. He was about to head home, but then he looked over at Mark's cafe and recalled the events that had happened just a month ago. He tossed his keys back in his pocket and dashed to the door of the cafe only to realize; What was he supposed to say to Mark? He hadn't thought that far and he'd hardly even thought about Mark until now, but he had left him there in the cafe all confused and disappointed.

He walked into the shop with shaky hands and sweaty palms, although there was no sight of Mark anywhere, he walked up to Felix who was being a charming cashier as always. He had that big sweet leer on his face. dimples out to the public, and leaning towards the edge of the counter top towards the customer to make them feel closer to him. He was a master of making the girls swoon at the cafe, so no wonder they weren't out of business.

"Where's Mark?" Felix's eyes widened at the question.

"Didn't he tell you. He's taking a business trip to learn more about coffee, something about being in France for a week." Felix's eyes seem to snap open and closed and Jinyoung saw a small band of sweat form on his forehead.

"Wanna tell me where he really is Felix? He threw up his hands in surrender and looked over his shoulder.

After being given his address the elder basically bolted to his car. Jinyoung never thinks much through and if he does it's barely, but that didn't matter much in this moment because all that mattered is that he didn't want Mark to hold a bad impression of him, not now, and not ever. He had this urge to make sure Mark didn't think badly of him and so that's where his mind was now.

Jinyoung pulled up to his place and honestly it was remarkable that he had all this land to himself. That he lived in this penthouse like a king and the elder almost felt like Mark had more backstory that he led onto believe. That Mark could be of a richer environment than he thought, that this stud was a kid of a successful pair, and that he chose a quaint life. It wasn't his place to know about Mark's past though at least not more than what Mark wants him to know right?